Throughout this text, the expression “telecommunications service provider” refers to any service provider accessible to a user from a telecommunications terminal via a telephone network or a computer network, such as a data network of the Internet type, that is run by a telecommunications operator. The telecommunications terminal is either a computer terminal or a telephone terminal. To illustrate the service provider concept, four service providers are listed hereinafter by way of example. A first service provider offers communications with another user, via a link that either carries audio data only or else carries video data also. A second service provider offers consultation of databases. A third service provider offers data processing, for example bank account management. A fourth service provider offers data storage, for example storing a message in a messaging service.
One highly advantageous application of the invention lies in coordinating different telecommunications services executed on behalf of the same user, even if the services are provided by different telecommunications operators. Thus the invention provides a user with a single service agreement guaranteeing consistent execution of different telecommunications services and a generating a single bill for all the services, even if they are in fact provided by different telecommunications operators or service providers.
At present, consumers using different telecommunications services are not always guaranteed consistent execution of the services. If an inconsistency is detected, it is usually referred to as “negative interaction”. This problem of negative interaction occurs in particular when services are executed simultaneously or are provided by different telecommunications operators or service providers. Negative interaction may occur if a user accesses a first service provider to communicate via a mobile telephone and a second service provider to access the Internet via a computer terminal and the two service providers are operated by the same telecommunications operator. The user cannot necessarily be sure that use of Internet services via the first communications service provider using a mobile telephone will be identical to or consistent with the use of Internet services via the second service provider, regardless of the capacities of the terminals or the networks themselves. For example, the Internet service provider may fail to recognize that the user is the same person when he accesses the service provider from a mobile telephone and from some other terminal. Each service provider recognizes a user by his user profile, which can include the name of the user, his address, a list of the service providers to which he subscribes, personalized service access profiles, etc. Each service provider defines the content of the user profile that it manages.
Furthermore, each operator offers service providers to which a user can request access, for example by dialing a particular telephone number, an access code, or a telephone card number. If a user requests access to a service provider and the request is validated, the user is assigned a service session, i.e. an access path to the service provider. Once he is using a particular first service provider, the user may wish to use a second service provider. Despite the agreements entered into with the operator, stringing from the first service provider to the second service provider is not always possible or in accordance with the agreements. For example, this kind of situation arises when using a particular kind of telephone card that can be used to make calls from any telephone. The user can access the call service provider associated with the card from any telephone by dialing an access code followed by a code related to the card. The call service provider then enables the user to use that telephone as if it were a private telephone. In particular, the user can interrogate a telephone information service provided by the operator. If the information requested is a telephone number, the service provider can forward the call to that number, even if a direct call to that person is not permitted by the telephone card service provider. Because the agreement between the cardholder and the service provider related to the card defines the conditions of use of the card, in particular the geographical area within which the user can call another party, there is an inconsistency in stringing from the first service provider, relating to use of the telephone card, to the second service provider, forwarding a call from an information service. The information service has no knowledge of the content of the agreement, and in particular of restrictions limiting the geographical areas that can be called, and forwards the call of the cardholder even if the called party is in a geographical area that the user cannot directly call because of the restrictions in his agreement.
Methods known in the art are employed to combat negative interaction between service providers. They define a direct dialogue mechanism between different service providers accessed by the same user. The drawback of those methods is that they impose a common architecture on the service providers and consequently make evolution of the service providers interdependent.